The instant invention relates to a turning device which aligns randomly oriented sheets into a prescribed manner.
Such turning devices are used to advantage in banknote sorting installations.
Sheet-shaped items such as banknotes, documents or imprinted pages in general are sheet- or leaf-like with a front and back side, and are capable of being oriented, with at least one side being imprinted with a predetermined pattern. These sheet-like items are presented in stacks in manual or also in the newer, automatic receiving stations for banknotes, these stacks being sorted with respect to their exterior or overall configuration but being unsorted with respect to the pattern. Banking institutions on the other hand store the banknotes in bundles, desirably with a preselected orientation of the pattern.
The German patent document DE-OS 35 44 880 A1 describes a device which guides banknotes and similar items through a conveying system without regard to orientation at the input in such manner that it delivers all banknotes with the backside down for example. The conveying system is provided with a conveying path which can be switched over only in the running direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,137 discloses a testing station which ascertains the authenticity and the orientation of an imprinted, sheet-like item that is oriented in the reading plane of the testing station only according to its outer configuration and is conveyed by means of endless belts. The items judged to be authentic must show patterns from a predetermined set.
German patent document DE-OS 38 12 005 A1 furthermore discloses a sorting device in which sheet-like items are deposited in predetermined stacking compartments.
A design for a conveyor system with endless belts can also be derived from Swiss patent 661,603 for example.
It is the object of the instant invention to provide a turning device which accepts randomly oriented sheet-like items from an input device, which turns them rapidly and without damaging them into a predetermined position or orientation and which transmits the items to a receiving device, as well to provide a process for operation of such a turning device.